David Baltimore on the COVID origin debate

Launch on warning | Bulletin award | A1 verse

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June 24, 2021

Time exposure showing the tracks of the missiles’ six dummy warheads, white-hot from air friction, arriving 8,000 km down-range near Kwajalein Atoll in the Western Pacific. The domes in the foreground house tracking telescopes. As a part of the post-Cold War reductions, the Minuteman IIIs were downgraded to one warhead each. Credit: US Air Force photos from National Security Archive and US National Archive collections respectively. Public domain image.

NUCLEAR RISK
Opinion: end launch-on-warning option
The launch-on-warning option of nuclear defense, which keeps ICBMs ready to launch within minutes, is problematic for two reasons: false warnings and its proximity to a first strike posture, writes global security expert Frank N. von Hippel. That’s why he thinks President Joe Biden should put an end to it. Read more.

Jaan Tallinn by Annika Metsla

WHAT’S NEW AT THE BULLETIN
Bulletin receives $100K award
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is proud to announce it has received a $100,000 award from the Founders Pledge on behalf of Jaan Tallinn, founding engineer of Skype and a member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors. Read more.

This picture, taken on November 27, 2018, shows biologist and summit chair David Baltimore (center right) of the California Institute of Technology speaking at a press conference during the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong. (Photo credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19
David Baltimore: COVID origin still unknown
Virologist David Baltimore says he’s willing to believe the coronavirus naturally evolved, but doesn’t believe that’s the only possible path. “I think that we can’t say for sure yet whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from natural origins or if it was genetically manipulated somehow.” Read more.

SPECIAL TOPICS
The A1 Verse: Raising Arizona to death
Bulletin multimedia editor Thomas Gaulkin’s newest verse is inspired by the June 21 New York Times front page story “For Builders, Hot Phoenix Market Feels Like 115º.” Read more.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“(W)e urge you to issue an executive order to vacate the Atomic Energy Commission’s erroneous decision that Dr. Oppenheimer was untrustworthy and unfit to serve his country.”

— Sens. Leahy, Markey, Heinrich and Merkley in a letter to President Joe Biden​​​​​​​​

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